GAS EXPLOSION IN DENTIST'S ROOM

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 92, 15 October 1914, Page 4

GAS EXPLOSION IN DENTIST'S ROOM

PREMISES BADLY DAMAGED. (81 TELEGRAPH.— PRESS ASSOCIATION.) CHRISTCHURCH, 14th October. A double explosion startled people in High-street who going to business about 7.40 this morning. The scene of the explosions was the rooms of Mr. F. C. A'Couit, dentist. The fire brigade found there was very little to claim attention, the damage being almost wholly due to the explosions. [ Investigations showed that the floor of the dentist's room had been blown clean through, and the ceiling of Messrs. Simpson and Williams's stationery premises underneath shattered. The explosions are said to have been due to the fact that a gas-ring may have been left burning, and by some means two cylinders of nitrous oxide gas became ignited, both being blown to pieces. In the lower premises books and stationery suffered slight damage as a result of the explosions and subsequent shower of plaster. A'Court's stock was insured in the State Fire Insurance Office for £260, and the building, which is the property of Messrs. Simpson and Williams, for £4000 in various offices, and the stock of books and stationery for £7500 in various offices.